New Plant in Kuberpur landfill site to convert garbage into electricity

The city might soon have less pollution and more electricity. In the next eighteen months, Agra will have a “smart” waste disposal facility under which garbage at the Kuberpur landfill site, which are combusted daily, will be converted into electric energy.Deepak Lavania | TNN | December 18, 2016, 11:42 IST

Agra: The city might soon have less pollution and more electricity. In the next eighteen months, Agra will have a “smart” waste disposal facility under which garbage at the Kuberpur landfill site, which are combusted daily, will be converted into electric energy. On Wednesday, the Agra Municipal Corporation (AMC), signed a formal contact with a Prague based company regarding the matter.

Agra Municipal Corporation (AMC), in an agreement with Spark Bresson private limited, decided to develop the facility. The company will be setting up a modern processing plant at Kuberpur for the purpose, which AMC officials are expecting to be functional in the next 18 months.

The facility will be especially useful for the sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone, according to civic officials. It will not only strengthen waste management system of the city, but also check the air pollution caused by the burning of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).

The development of the system has been underway for the last three years. In June, the state urban development minister Azam Khan, along with a delegation including the Municipal Commissioner of Agra Indravikram Singh, went to Prague, Czech Republic, to understand Spark Bresson’s operations at a waste to energy plant of the Prague Service Corporation.

It was the vulnerability of the Taj Trapezium Zone (a 10,400 sq area around the Taj Mahal where pollution is not allowed following a SC order seeking to protect the monument), that prompted the AMC to contact the company and initiate the process of building the facility.

According to officials, AMC will have to provide at least 500 metric tonnes of solid waste to the company every day, which will produce 10 Megawatts of electricity. The amount of electricity produced will increase with the amount of garbage provided. The AMC will also provide land to the company for its operations.

Sanjeev Pradhan, AMC’s executive engineer (environment) told TOI, “Spark Bresson private limited will be setting up a technologically advanced plant at Kuberpur landfill site to extract electric energy out of MSW. The functioning of the plant will start only after we receive an environmental clearance from the central government and the company signs the power project agreement with the state government to sell the electricity produced. The company is expected complete the process in the next 18 months.”

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.